Management and Conservation of Renewable Marine Resources in the Eastern African Region: UNEP Regional Seas Reports and Studies No. 66

The Eastern African region has been provisionally defined as the marine and coastal area of the Indian Ocean within the jurisdiction of Comoros, La Reunion (France), Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles, Somalia and the United Republic of Tanzania. The total land area is about 3,540,169 km2 (Table 1). The major rivers flowing into the Indian Ocean are shown in Figure 1. In Madagascar the rivers rise from the eastern mountain range (generally over 2,500 m above sea level) cutting across the heavily settled highland plateaux and the western livestock raising belts, both of which are experiencing extensive soil erosion. Thus, whatever land use practices and other developments in the catchment basins of rivers exist, even arising from outside the region, these will have an impact on the marine environment.